


It's a Twin Thing

by Keeb_Koob



Series: It's a Twin Thing [1]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Coming of Age, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:22:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28066953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keeb_Koob/pseuds/Keeb_Koob
Summary: Mabel always slept like the dead.When the twins were younger it wasn’t a good thing-Dipper often had nightmares and had always secretly wished for the support on those late nights. But as a young man in his senior year of high school, making all kinds of discoveries about himself? He couldn’t be more thankful for her gentle, steady snoring. Dipper couldn’t imagine what Mabel would think if she were to open her eyes right now, seeing his disheveled appearance and out of breath, red face-and frankly he tried not to think about it most days.
Relationships: Dipper Pines/Mabel Pines
Series: It's a Twin Thing [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2055996
Comments: 1
Kudos: 26





	1. From Barest Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> This is a work of fiction created for intents and purposes related to therapy and coping, and is not to be taken out of that context. In later chapters it depicts a relationship that is incestuous in nature. Read at your own risk.

Mabel always slept like the dead.

When the twins were younger it wasn’t a good thing-Dipper often had nightmares and had always secretly wished for the support on those late nights. But as a young man in his senior year of high school, making all kinds of discoveries about himself? He couldn’t be more thankful for her gentle, steady snoring. He peeked cautiously across their shared room in the attic atop the Mystery Shack, eyes flicking over the piles of junk strewn about the floor-since when did she have _five_ of those screaming rubber chickens?-and finally up to the mess of knotted blankets and frizzy hair that was his sister. Dipper couldn’t imagine what Mabel would think if she were to open her eyes right now, seeing his disheveled appearance and out of breath, red face-and frankly he tried not to think about it most days.

It all started with a feeling in freshman year, Dipper reminisced. The twins had just enrolled after their first summer with Grunkle Stan, having just promised each other that no matter what happened they wouldn’t let it come between them ever again. They had promised to stop keeping secrets from each other about how they felt or what they wanted-and at the time it was something Dipper didn’t even have to think about.

Mabel had tried out for the cheerleading squad right at the beginning of the year, her hopes high for the matching uniforms and comradery between her fellow high school girls-but what she hadn’t been prepared for was the _seriousness_ of it all. These girls weren’t the same crowd of bored teens looking to pass the time and make friends that she was used to from middle school-nearly everyone Mabel talked to seemed to have extensive dance experience and goals of making this hobby into a career, some even had scholarships already!

When she returned home after try outs Mabel was hardly the bubbly girl who had given him a chest bump for good luck and knocked him over after school; her eyes stayed trained on her feet, arms crossed tightly across her chest as she hugged herself and swayed from foot to foot.

Dipper had tried to ask her how things went, or what was wrong, or _anything_ that would clue him in on her sudden drastic mood swing, but Mabel just chewed a stray lock of hair and seemed to draw in on herself, twisting and untwisting the wet strand around a finger and almost ignoring his pleas. He’d felt so helpless in that moment seeing her like this; she looked like he had never seen before, like someone had sucked the life right out of her.

Dipper stood abruptly then and set about gathering the softest blankets in his room, all the pillows he could get his hands on, and every stuffed animal she owned-piling every soft thing in the house into a blob on the floor of her room. He took his sister’s hands and tugged her towards the mess, surprised when she followed up the stairs easily and sank down into the sheets next to him-he’d built her a ‘nest’ as she often called it. She said those helped her when she didn’t know what else to do, and Dipper sure as heck didn’t know what to try when she wasn’t yet in a place to talk it out with him.

At first they just laid there, the shadows crawling across the room as the hours passed and settled them in darkness; neither one of them moved to turn on the lights when they couldn’t see anymore, or tried to break the comfortable silence between them. Dipper wrapped one arm around his sister when she made no move to speak, feeling a little awkward despite himself at the physical contact. He hoped he was doing this right, comforting her.

“I don’t think I’m cut out for this, Dip…” Mabel’s voice shook, the fragile sound of it making his arm tighten reflexively around her shoulder where it had rested. She never sounded this…put out.

“What happened Mabes?” He whispered back, concern making his voice rasp in her ear. His heart twisted in his chest, empathy for his twin burning him as he drew a breath to steady himself. “You didn’t make it?”

“No-well, yes, but that’s not it,” She sighed in frustration, one hand unseen in the dark tangled in her mahogany strands as she wrestled with her thoughts. “The coaches were really nice. And the routines weren’t too hard,” Mabel sighed, second guessing her reaction to the situation now that she was saying it out loud. “I thought it would be fun-like, a hobby. A club even. That I’d make friends. But everyone is just so… _mean._ I never knew there was so much about me to criticize.”

“Whatever they said, they’re stupid and wrong.” Dipper had to work to keep his voice even. His sister had come to expect measured, logical responses-not the raw emotion that consumed him often as a teen.

A weak laugh bubbled to Mabel’s lips before she could stop it, quickly dissolving into choked sobs. She rolled into her brother’s side, burying her face in the scratchy fabric of his vest and wetting it with the tears that seemed to stream from her now.

Dipper froze for a moment, feeling his stomach drop through his awkward response to the touch at the silent sobs that rocked the usually chipper teen in his arms, the rapid dampening of his shirt alarming him as she cried out every frustration and fear that he hadn’t realized she’d been holding in since they’d stepped on that bus to leave Gravity Falls just a few short months ago. He pulled Mabel into a bear hug in their mound of blankets, burying his face in her hair as he rubbed soothing circles into her back and shushed in her ear.

“Am I not… am I ugly Dipper? Be honest, is that why they have to pick on me?” Dipper heard her whisper from where she rested against his chest. His heart sank, is that what they said to her?!

“Mabel of course you’re not… of course you’re attractive. I’m sure tons of guys are into you, why wouldn’t they be?” Oh no, that sounded bad. How do you even say this without sounding weird? “I mean, it’s probably not that, you’re just weird!” As the words left his mouth, Dipper could feel the mistake and scrambled to correct it before he could do any harm. “I mean, you’re unique! A lot of people are afraid to be themselves, so it probably makes them uncomfortable that you’re happy just being you!”

Mabel laughed a tearful laugh, her brother’s awkward stuttering making it hard for her to take her sadness seriously anymore. She hadn’t thought of it like that; She was always so comfortable to do whatever she felt and say whatever she thought that Mabel had never considered how someone who couldn’t do those things would react. Pacifica had been difficult towards her for some of the same reasons, now that she was thinking about it…

“Relax bro bro, I can feel you clenching your butt cheeks from here. I’m not offended.” She put a hand up when Dipper started to sputter, signaling to him that she hadn’t finished her sentence despite the pause. “Thanks, really. What you said helped.”

“It did?” Dipper couldn’t keep the surprise from his voice. “I mean, it did. I’m glad it helped. Do you wanna keep, uh, hugging, or…?” He asked awkwardly, suddenly very aware of his nervous sweating and every inch of damp skin that rested against Mabel’s. She just laughed, a real deep belly laugh that made him feel more at ease than he had since she’d come home from school.

“No I’m good, this is starting to get sweaty and _weird._ But I really needed that. Thanks bro.”

Dipper in the present cringed internally at the memory, Mabel’s word choice striking a guilty chord. 'This is starting to get weird' indeed.


	2. A Balancing Act

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the last of the neighboring class half-heartedly jogged across the finish line, Mabel’s teacher glanced up from her clip board just in time to see the brunette spring up from her exhausted position suddenly, whooping loudly at the few of her classmates that had actually been trying to outrun her. She pumped her fist in the air, showboating at the older boys she had outrun. Dipper couldn’t help but laugh out loud at her boisterous display, instantly cheered up despite the hardships of high school gym class. That was just so… Mabel. Everything she did was so passionate and over the top.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a work of fiction created for intents and purposes related to therapy and coping, and is not to be taken out of that context. In later chapters it depicts a relationship that is incestuous in nature. Read at your own risk.

Gym class was one of the toughest parts of the day, Dipper thought as a dodgeball bounced off the side of his head with a _Thwack!_ Especially when it rained, and all the classes had to share one building for the entirety of the period. It was the last period of the day, but sometimes it seemed longer than the rest of the school day combined. Not to mentioned the forced communal changing rooms, the hormonal boys harassing each other, the stupid pranks and outright bullies…

“Pines! You’re out! Hit the bench.” The coach’s gruff voice shook him from his reverie, and he turned and trotted to the row of benches along the wall of their school’s gym, taking a seat by himself. _First one out, again. Right when it counted too. And there’s not time to get back in at this rate._ He remarked mentally, feeling the dull shame and self consciousness heat his cheeks as he tried and failed to keep his eyes on his classmate’s lazy attempts to hurl rubber balls at each other. His team _sucked._ The coach seemed disinterested too, sneaking glances at the clock every so often and eventuality forgetting altogether as the minutes passed to cue the insecure boy back into the game in the final moments of class- perhaps deciding that just having the last few minutes to get back out there wasn't worth it.

A sudden commotion drew Dipper's eyes. The sound of shoes squeaking against hardwood floors, balls bouncing, and teenage shrieks fading into the background as Dipper watched his competitive twin yards away finish her lap just inches ahead of her class-hair wild and face red with effort, her expression fixed in a triumphant grin. She jogged to a stop over the tape marking the makeshift finish line on the hardwood floor and bent over to catch her breath, hands braced on her knees as her chest heaved under the curtain of her hair. She breathed deeply for a few seconds as the other teens trickled in behind her, her back turned to where Dipper sat.

As the last of the neighboring class half-heartedly jogged across the finish line, Mabel’s teacher glanced up from her clip board just in time to see the brunette spring up from her exhausted position suddenly, whooping loudly at the few of her classmates that had actually been trying to outrun her. She pumped her fist in the air, showboating at the older boys she had outrun. Dipper couldn’t help but laugh out loud at her boisterous display, instantly cheered up despite the hardships of high school gym class. That was just so… _Mabel._ Everything she did was so passionate and over the top.

A glowing moment passed as he caught his breath at the end of his giggling-the younger twin beaming at his sister from across the gloomy gym-before he noticed just how hard his heart pounded in his chest despite how light it was making him feel. This wasn't something Dipper was very familiar with, this floaty warm fixation, and the only comparison he had for the feelings made him so deeply uncomfortable in this context that he wouldn't let himself think about it. The teen checked his pulse against his fingertips in the space underneath his jaw, wondering if he was coming down with something. He didn't feel feverish, but why else would he be feeling so light headed?

The bell pierced his thoughts and startled the young mystery lover suddenly, the controlled chaos of the students around him erupting into shouts and laughter as his classmates stampeded like animals for the locker rooms to get changed and head home. Dipper stood and started collecting the rubber balls and equipment his classmates had abandoned, almost unwilling to join the other boys for fear of the awkward half-naked confrontation that seemed to be customary for the more sports minded students. If you asked him it would be the same etiquette for changing in the locker room as using the men's room at the same time as someone else, he thought with a huff. _Bullying someone while they're changing is weak._

When it seemed like most of the boys had emptied out of the locker room and it was quiet again, Dipper stopped pretending to rearrange the equipment in the closet and pulled the squeaky doors shut, starting for his locker just inside the doorway. He could still hear some commotion echoing off the concrete walls a few rows of lockers down… Dipper stuffed the clothes he was wearing before class into his bag, pulled a pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt on over his gym clothes, and quietly hustled back out the door before anyone could come stop him-thankful that for once it seemed he was being spared the daily heckling he endured.

The rain outside had slowed to a drizzle. _Maybe it'll let up soon._ The teen thought hopefully as he slipped around the few stray students that had lingered in front of the door chatting as if those few minutes of conversation would somehow be enough time for the weather to clear up. He gripped the hand rail and took the stairs carefully, noting how his toes nearly slipped out from under him at the end of his steps. Dipper liked the rain-it reminded him of that little town in Oregon where he and his sister had spent their summers the past few years.

“Dip! Hey, Dipper! Wait up bro bro!” A familiar voice made him turn abruptly and freeze-the heart pounding, out of breath feeling from earlier returning full force and then immediately dissolving into dread as his sister’s feet slid off the last step down the wet concrete towards him. His arms shot out to catch her without thinking about it, managing to grip just the tops of her shoulders as he tried to slow her momentum. It was no use though-she'd been running at him full speed down the slick steps and hadn't had much time to slow down in the second since she'd noticed him-and he'd been just a second too late in reaching out for her. They both went down hard in a hole at the bottom of the steps that had filled with water and become a three foot wide, inch deep puddle.

“You okay Mabes?” Dipper could only manage a whisper, heart in his throat as he steadied his sister against his chest. He'd heard the back of his head _Smack!_ against the concrete, but lying there dizzy from the impact he could have sworn the sound came long after the actual fall. His voice was much huskier than he meant it to be and the realization that he was too disoriented to get it under control immediately colored his cheeks. Mabel groaned wordlessly against his chest, effectively stunned by the fall and her own bump to the forehead as she'd nearly somersaulted over him she'd face planted so hard.

A few shocked moments passed, the whispers of his peers all but silenced by the spectacle, when a solid sheet of kicked water blinded Dipper suddenly with a _Splash!_ and soaked Mabel’s back and hair. He scrubbed at his eyes in an attempt to clear his vision while his twin struggled to flip back the heavy curtain of soaked hair that had blinded her and firmly pinned her struggling body against her brother’s for a moment.

“Whoops, sorry Pines’. Didn’t see ya there.” The shrill voice above the pair dripped with insincere sweetness, enciting a pair of giggles from onlookers in response. _Great, of course. It would've been too easy otherwise._ The younger twin thought bitterly, peering through burning eyes at a trio of the twos' variety of shared high school bullies.

_Katie Jen and Carly weren't usually this bold-Mabel must have really pissed them off._ Dipper concluded, bracing his palms on the wet ground beneath him and gathering his legs as best he could. Mabel flipped the last of her hair out of the way and rolled off her twin and onto her backside in the puddle, elbows resting on her knees and head in her hands. He glanced at the crumpled, soaked brunette trying to quickly assess the damage, feeling rage bubble up again as he watched the tiniest drip of crimson fall from between her fingers and wash away in the steady downpour. Something in him just snapped, flooding his entire body with warmth and adrenaline as a bitter thought became a wry, humorless smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait folks, this year is hitting hard. Lost my job, my pet passed away, one of my partners and I split up, and I'm living with family trying to survive. But I'm back with a vengeance and a renewed need to escape with fiction lmao. Unbeta'd at the moment.

**Author's Note:**

> Self indulgence at it's finest tbh ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


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